Bezirksamtmann (plural ''Bezirksamtleute'') is a

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

administrative title of gubernatorial or lower rank, roughly translating as equivalent to the British

District Officer The District Officer (abbreviated to D.O.), was a commissioned officer of one of the colonial governments of the British Empire, from the mid-1930s also a member of the Colonial Service of the United Kingdom, who was responsible for a District of ...

. It is derived from ''

Bezirk The German language, German term (; Grammatical number#Overview, pl. ; derived from , "circle") translated as "district" can refer to the following types of administrative divisions: * , a subdivision of a city in the sense of a borough (e ...

'' ("district") + ''

Amtmann __NOTOC__ The ''Amtmann'' or ''Ammann'' (in Switzerland) was an official in German-speaking countries of Europe and in some of the Nordic countries from the time of the Middle Ages whose office was akin to that of a bailiff A bailiff is a ...

'' ("official").

Colonial use

The title was used for colonial officials in the following minor German '' Schutzgebiete'' (i.e. colonial possessions of various status) in the Pacific: ''(probably incomplete list)'' * Jaluit (Marshall Islands), subordinate of the colonial governor of

German New Guinea German New Guinea () consisted of the northeastern part of the island of New Guinea and several nearby island groups, and was part of the German colonial empire. The mainland part of the territory, called , became a German protectorate in 188 ...

**1906 - 30 April 1907 Victor Berg (b. 1861 - d. 1907) **1907 Joseph Siegwantz (acting) **1908 - November 1909 Wilhelm Stuckhardt (d. 1909) **November 1909 - 1910 Berghausen (interim) **1910 - 1911 Georg Merz; he stayed on as only Stationsleiter ('Station chief') (1911 - 3 October 1914), subordinate to the Eastern Caroline islands district, see below *

Nauru Nauru, officially the Republic of Nauru, formerly known as Pleasant Island, is an island country and microstate in the South Pacific Ocean. It lies within the Micronesia subregion of Oceania, with its nearest neighbour being Banaba (part of ...

, until 1888 a tribal protectorate, till 1889 under a

Reichskommissar (, rendered as "Commissioner of the Empire", "Reich Commissioner" or "Imperial Commissioner"), in German history, was an official governatorial title used for various public offices during the period of the German Empire and Nazi Germany. Ger ...

**2 October 1888 - May 1889 Robert Rasch (acting) **May 1889 - 1895 Christian Johannson **1895 - 1898 Fritz Jung **1899 - 1906 Ludwig Kaiser (b. 1862 - d. 1906); afterwards the jurisdiction was downgraded and administered by Station Chiefs (''Stationsleiter''), from 1911 subordinated to the administrators of Ponape district (in the Eastern Carolinas, cfr. infra) * Marianen Inseln (German for 'Marianas Islands', i.e. the Northern Marianas, sold by Spain), as subordinate of the colonial governor of

: **November 1899 - April 1907 Georg Fritz (on

Saipan Saipan () is the largest island and capital of the Northern Mariana Islands, an unincorporated Territories of the United States, territory of the United States in the western Pacific Ocean. According to 2020 estimates by the United States Cens ...

) **1904 - 1907 Volker Reichel (on Rota island); afterwards administered by a Stationsleiter ('Station chief') who was subordinated to a district officer in Micronesia and thus to his superiors *in

Micronesia Micronesia (, ) is a subregion of Oceania, consisting of approximately 2,000 small islands in the Northwestern Pacific Ocean. It has a close shared cultural history with three other island regions: Maritime Southeast Asia to the west, Poly ...

, which was 18 July 1899 - 7 October 1914 under the authority of the governors of German New Guinea (and their

Vice-governor A lieutenant governor, lieutenant-governor, or vice governor is a high officer of state, whose precise role and rank vary by jurisdiction. Often a lieutenant governor is the deputy, or lieutenant, to or ranked under a governor — a "second-in-comm ...

s of German New Guinea, which had the general supervision over the island districts), there were two island districts, under District officers which from 1889 were styled Bezirksamtmann: ** Western

Caroline Islands The Caroline Islands (or the Carolines) are a widely scattered archipelago of tiny islands in the western Pacific Ocean, to the north of New Guinea. Politically, they are divided between the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM) in the cen ...

(

Yap Yap (, sometimes written as , or ) traditionally refers to an island group located in the Caroline Islands of the western Pacific Ocean, a part of Yap State. The name "Yap" in recent years has come to also refer to the state within the Federate ...

and

Palau Palau, officially the Republic of Palau, is an island country in the Micronesia subregion of Oceania in the western Pacific Ocean. The Republic of Palau consists of approximately 340 islands and is the western part of the Caroline Islands ...

[and from 1907

) ***29 June 1886 - 18.. Manuel de Elisa ***.... - .... .... ***before November 1897 - after November 1898 S. Cortes ***1899 - 1909 Arno Senfft (b. 1864 - d. 1909) ***1909 Rudolf Karlowa ***1909 - 1910 Georg Fritz ***1910 - 1911 Hermann Kersting ***1911 - 1914 Baumert ** Eastern Caroline islands ( Ponape [and from 1911 the Marshall Islands, cfr. supra]) ***June 1886 - 1887 Capriles ***14 March 1887 - 1887 Isidro Posadillo (d. 1887) ***October 1887 - January 1891 Luis Cadarso y Rey (d. 1898) ***c.1894 Concha ***before November 1897 - after November 1898 J. Fernandez de Cordoba ***12 October 1899 - August? 1901 Albert Hahl (b. 1868 - d. 1945) ***1 September 1901 - 30 April 1907 Victor Berg (b. 1861 - d. 1907) ***1907 - 1908? Girschner (acting) ***1908 - 1909 Georg Fritz ***1909 - 18 October 1910 Gustav Boeder (d. 1910) ***1910 - 7 October 1914 August Überhorst ...

German speaking countries

Germany

The ''Bezirksamtmann'' used to be the head officer of the ''Bezirksamt'' (district) in

Bavaria Bavaria, officially the Free State of Bavaria, is a States of Germany, state in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the list of German states by area, largest German state by land area, comprising approximately 1/5 of the total l ...

and the Palatinate between 1862 and 1920.

Switzerland

Several cantons in Switzerland have a ''Bezirksamtmann'' or ''Bezirksammann'' as head officer of the ''Bezirksamt'' (district).

Sources and references

WorldStatesmen- links to each nation
Gubernatorial titles